32 miles SW of T or C on NM 152. Highway 90 passes through Hillsboro and
continues onthrough Kingston, San Lorenzo, Santa Rita, and Bayardto Silver
City.Hillsboro was born in 1877 when gold was found at the nearby Opportunity and Ready
Pay Mines. Despite fierce Indian attacks, the town grew. It became the county seat in 1884
and had 1,200 people by 1907. Area mines produced more than $6 million in gold and
silver. A slowdown occurred , however, and T or C became the County Seat in 1938.
About 225 people live in Hillsboro today. There are gift shops, restaurants, a bed and
breakfast, art galleries, the 120 year old General Store, the remains of the old county
courthouse where three men were tried in 1899 for the murders of Judge Albert J Fountain
and his nine year old son, the Black Range Museum, Union Church, and Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Church.Today Hillsboro is a well-known community of retirees,
artists, writers and ranchers. The famed Apple Festival is held each Labor Day
weekend when the sidewalks are filled with artists, merchants, vedors and hundreds of
visitors.